Examiner, 24 Feb 2009 (Morgans).
Seeking to get the jump on possible community opposition to a new stadium for DC United in Prince George's County, Maryland, a group backing the stadium has launched a new website: www.goalmaryland.com.Comment (posted on the Examiner site):
At this point, the site is kind of a blog of sorts, with the first entry made on February 17. Today's fourth entry was the most significant of the bunch, making people aware who has been getting behind the project to get it to this point, and perhaps more importantly, who the important people are in the Maryland General Assembly in terms of support. A link is also provided to the bill itself (HB 1282 in the House of Delegates). You can read the PDF of the full bill (Note: Adobe Acrobat Reader required) here.
The GoalMaryland.com site does the expected, driving home the key point of the team and county/state officials - that no current taxes will be used for the funding of the stadium and that revenue from the stadium itself will be used to pay it off. There is always understandable concern about public financing for sports stadiums and it's been a key point of contention in cities around the country for decades now.
But even in its earliest stages, I think the pro-stadium group has made a wise move. Public opposition for the stadium won't really begin until a site is chosen, which United co-Executive Chairman Victor B. MacFarlane said he's hoping to have complete within a month. Getting positive information out there about the project now before an increase in opposition occurs is a smart first step. The group is smartly using social networking web sites such as Facebook to get the word out, as well. It also can't hurt for there to be a show of support for the project at the citizen level before the General Assembly takes up discussions on the bill. The General Assembly is in session until mid-April. [More unrelated to stadium issue ]
I suspect that the people and organizations who have been posting and organizing to oppose the stadium boondoggle would be very surprised to learn that the Examiner thinks "Public opposition for the stadium won't really begin until a site is chosen."
I can't help wondering if the Examiner is really ignorant about the opposition, or is publishing biased reports that make it appear that there is no opposition.
There are many, many more than four opposing messages at
Yahoo groups sites "PrinceGeorges_Discussion" and "PG-Politics", the blog "PG-Politics-Briefs", and the Twitter site "pgpolitics"
I'm sorry I can't post links to those locations, but the Examiner does not allow links in comments.
(Posted 25 Feb 2009)
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